Break for training after series of close calls

Work in Marystown on the drilling support module for the Hebron offshore oil platform was put on hold on Friday, June 7.

The day-long stoppage was to “refresh everybody” on their site safety training, a union representative has confirmed for The Telegram.

President of the MWF/CAW Local 20, electrician Wayne Brake said he considers the move a positive one by Kiewit-Kvaerner Contractors, after a trio of near-miss incidents at the site within a relatively short period of time.

“We’ve had some minor instances over the past, I guess, month,” he said in an interview Thursday.

There were two so-called dropped object incidents, he said, describing a steel beam being loaded onto a flatbed falling to the ground.

“In the other one, I think, we had one of our electricians cut an energized wire. Basically I guess he thought all the power was off that unit,” he said.

He was not aware of any injuries in relation to the incidents.

Workers at the site already have daily tasks they are required to complete in relation to safety awareness on site, including a written job hazard analysis (JHA).

“You write down what tasks you’re doing and basically any hazards that might be associated with it, you jot those down to,” Brake said.

“Everybody has got to do that every morning, on every job. And you’ve got people coming around— I’ve been asked a few times, ‘Can I see your JHA?’”

The Telegram was unable to reach a representative for Kiewit-Kvaerner Contractors about the site.

The drilling support module to be built at the company's Cow Head facility is one of two pieces of the $14-billion Hebron project set to be built in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Brake estimated about 80 workers are currently active on the drilling support module, adding that number could quickly jump to several hundred within the next few months.